Pornament is Crime #8: Weenie Waving for the Elephant 1987

Joyce Kozloff made this painting titled, "Pornament is Crime #8: Weenie Waving for the Elephant," using a wildly diverse range of references. It’s a dense and layered composition, where the process seems as important as the final image, kind of like my own painting process. Looking closely, you can see how the physicality of the medium really shapes the viewing experience. The textures, the reds, the ornamental additions, they all create a complex emotional experience. Take the central figure, for instance: the red, the elephant, the patterns, all of it is a kind of organised chaos. The detail in the Elephant is amazing, It's like a conversation between different cultures. This piece reminds me of other artists who embrace ambiguity, like Phillip Guston, in that it uses the idea of pastiche as its primary mode of expression. Art isn’t about fixed meanings; it’s an ongoing exchange of ideas across time.